[English] ~𝒟𝒶𝓇ℯ 𝓉ℴ 𝒟𝓇ℯ𝒶𝓂~ Kenma x OC

Chapter 35: Nighttime Confessions

"Have you dropped off your bags yet?" Osamu studied the huge display board carefully. 

My aunt looked in the direction of the security checkpoint, her face in a frown, where a long line had already formed. Despite my tension, I had to smile. There were still about two hours until our flight started boarding, so we still had plenty of time. 

To distract myself, I opened my iPad to do a few things for school. I was on leave, but that didn't mean that I didn't have to do homework. Unfortunately. 

"And where are Kuroo-san and Kenma anyway?" Help, if my aunt kept going like this, I would lose my mind. 

I put my headphones on so I didn't have to listen to the nervous chatter anymore. I was nervous enough as it was.

Two arms wrapped around my waist and I looked up from my math homework. Kenma gave me a subtle kiss on the cheek. I quickly took off my headphones. 

"Hi, kitten." 

The corners of my mouth turned into a huge cheesy smile. "Hi! Did you get here safely? Is everything sorted out with your university?" 

He nodded and put his chin on my shoulder. The others didn't notice because they were looking in the opposite direction. 

"It's fine. I can follow the courses online. I picked up the relevant material from my professors. Don't worry, I won't fail because of two days of absence." 

I still felt guilty. 

"Kitten, stop it." I looked at him, confused. 

"With what?" 

He laughed quietly. "With that expression on my face." 

I tilted my head. "What's wrong with my expression?" 

His left hand brushed a strand of hair out of my face. "I can see that you still feel guilty." Whoops, seems like I got caught.

I slowly pulled away from his embrace. "I can't help it." 

Kenma smiled at me. "Then try to think of something else." He grabbed my hand and we joined the others. 

"Kozume-san, it's nice to see you again." My aunt beamed at Kenma. He gave a small bow. 

"Mrs. Miya, how are you?" 

While the two were talking, I looked at Kuroo-san. I still hadn't dared to speak to him. 

"Izumi-chan, here's your boarding ticket, ya!" Atsumu handed me the rectangular ticket with my seat number. I thanked him and then caught a glimpse of Kenma's ticket. Perfect, he was sitting right next to me. 

"Come on! The line at security is getting longer and longer." There she was again, my stressed aunt. I involuntarily grimaced. Kenma grinned, then pulled me with him towards the end of the line.

-----

The plane glided gently through the sky. The sun was already low behind the white clouds, turning them into warm red and orange tones. As I looked out of the small window, I heard my favorite song. I barely noticed that I was bouncing my leg up and down to the melody. The math problems were waiting to be solved on my iPad but I couldn't care less. Kenma, sitting next to me, was also working on his homework for university. The flight was going to take a long time. My stomach was tingling like crazy. 

"Concentrate, kitten." Kenma drew my attention to him. I pulled a face, but followed his instructions. I looked at my homework, disgruntled.

After two hours I had completed all of today's tasks. I leaned back, exhausted. It was still about nine hours before we arrived. I glanced at Kenma, but he was still deeply engrossed in his tasks. So I closed my eyes. I hadn't slept very well the night before and was therefore dead tired. But falling asleep wasn't that easy when you were excited and uneasy at the same time. 

At first I couldn't find a comfortable sleeping position. I turned back and forth in my seat for at least ten minutes until I found a reasonably comfortable position. After that I just couldn't stop thinking about the upcoming trial. It was like magic. No matter how hard I tried to distract myself with other thoughts, after a few minutes my thoughts were back on the days that laid ahead.

Eventually I decided to distract myself with a movie, hoping it would make me sleepy. Unfortunately, the opposite happened. After it was over, I was wide awake again and a little hungry too. I cursed quietly. This was really going really well. As if Kenma could read my mind, he reached out to give me a chocolate bar. He smiled warmly at me. 

"Thanks." 

Without hesitation, I unwrapped the bar and then let the chocolate melt on my tongue. 

"Are you finished?" I looked at him questioningly. 

"Yes, for a while now. I didn't want to disturb you while you were watching your movie." 

I grabbed his hand. Somehow I needed his closeness right now. 

"Can't sleep?" He must have noticed earlier that I had been tossing and turning restlessly for a long time. 

I nodded silently. "Can we just talk for a while?" 

His features softened. "Sure." 

The plane was dark by now. The flight attendants had dimmed the lights so the passengers could sleep. 

"It's your first time in America, right?" Exhausted, I laid my head on his shoulder.

Kenma shook his head. "I've been there this year already." 

I looked up in surprise. 

"You didn't expect that, did you?" 

I really hadn't. "Why haven't you ever told me about it?" 

His hand stroked my freshly dyed hair. I had my blonde hair re-dyed because my roots had been visible. "You didn't ask." 

Now I was curious. "Why were you in America and where were you exactly?" I wanted to know everything. 

"My grade level flew to New York City for the graduation trip back in the spring." 

I opened my eyes in disbelief. "You were in New York?!" He nodded. 

"What did you do there?" Unfortunately, because of the darkness, I couldn't see his expression. 

"Various things. Sightseeing and stuff. And we watched a volleyball game..." He hesitated. "That's where I saw you for the first time." 

My mouth fell open. "We've met before and you didn't tell me?!"

Kenma was silent. 

"Kenma..." 

He was still hiding something from me. I gently nudged him. He sighed quietly. 

"We saw each other again after that... I was in the hospital that same evening with a friend and a teacher because my friend had broken his arm. We bumped into each other there when you came out of your deceased father's room." 

Fragments of memories swirled through my brain. 

"W-wait. Are you the boy who just hugged me and whispered in my ear that everything was okay?" My heart beat faster. This couldn't be a coincidence.

I felt Kenma's lips on my forehead. 

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I just didn't know how. It wasn't long ago that your father died and I didn't want to open up any wounds and after that there was just no suitable-..." 

I put my lips on his. In the kiss I put all the feelings that he had triggered in me with his confession. He couldn't imagine how grateful I was to him. 

"Thank you... Thank you for comforting me that evening. You can't imagine how much that helped me." My voice was just a soft whisper so only he could hear it. He took my chin and pulled me into another kiss. When we pulled apart, he put his forehead against mine. 

"I just did what no one did for me when my mother died. No one should be left alone with news like that..."